Bemused Rangers hero left questioning 'where has this team been' but Celtic win comes with dose of reality

Kris Boyd insists Rangers were able to replicate their Europa League performances as they demolished Celtic to trim the gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to 11 points.

Despite the absence of several first-team regulars including Jack Butland and captain James Tavernier through injury, boss Philippe Clement managed to muster up an emphatic 3-0 victory for his depleted side over their Glasgow rivals to earn the Belgian a first derby win at the seventh attempt.

Clement has seen his players save their best performances of the campaign for Thursday night’s in Europe - most notably against Ligue 1 side OGC Nice this term - leaving fan favourite Boyd to jokingly admit his former club were destined to come up trumps in the latest Old Firm installment.

Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “I can enjoy tonight but then I think the reality will set in that you're still 11 points behind, but taking nothing away from Rangers I thought to a man they were excellent today.

“They asked players to come in, we said at the top of the show there might be an opportunity for players who hadn't been playing to come in and stake a claim - I thought Yilmaz was excellent, I thought Sterling and Propper played like proper defenders - alright they weren't asked a lot by Celtic - and Jefte was up and down all day.

“Raskin was outstanding, Cerny and Hagi with that little bit of quality. It's a good day for Rangers but you then think to yourself where has this team been? We have seen it in glimpses - but I suppose it is a Thursday...”

The defeat marked only the second Old Firm loss that Brendan Rodgers has suffered across his two spells at Celtic and Boyd was quick to call out the Hoops' boss after detecting a sense of overconfidence in the build-up to the game.

Boyd continued: “Rangers can enjoy the performance today, they can enjoy the result, but the reality is you are still 11 points behind in the league. Celtic have done the work through a period of time and they are more consistent. Rangers need to get that level of consistency. They have played well, won the game 3-0 and it should have been a lot more.

“But Brendan Rodgers, I thought he was a little bit bullish, thinking that it was going to be easy in his press conference and it has maybe come back to bite him. You just got the feeling it meant a lot more to Rangers.”